It is not often you hear a woman say taking a few steps back in her career was what she needed to take the next step forward. But on reflection this is what Fiona Wee of EY did.
Wee began her career over 16 years ago in the banking and financial sector in Singapore. A move to Perth seven years ago with her family made her realise she was not going to find that same level of work in Western Australia. She took a year long sabbatical and settled her young son in at school and made creating a new home for her family in Australia the priority.
“I did a lot of volunteer work at the school which I found very fulfilling,” she reflects. “It gave me a lot of support and networks as well, as coming in to a new country I didn’t have many friends and was starting all over.”
When Wee was ready to start work again she took on a part time role as Senior Manager at EY. She knew it was a step back but wanted to try consulting to see if this was something she could do.
“After about a year I felt that it was a place I could really fit in, where I could contribute, where I enjoyed working,” says Wee. “I talked to my (career) counselor and said I want to plan ahead and I want to look at what I had to do to advance my way in the organisation.”
Wee set a goal of obtaining a partnership at EY and utilised advice she had received earlier in her career. She was told; “it’s not about what someone can make for your career but what you can make out of it so you own your own your career. You have to shape it to where you want it to be.”
So Wee set her sights firmly on her goal but having a young son she knew a flexible employer would be key to reaching it.
“When I was negotiating the terms of my employment I was saying to them I wanted to work part time and they said to me tell us what works for you and we’ll make it work for us,” she says. “That emphasises that they put the employee first.”
Wee believes that flexibility is one of the greatest benefits of working at EY. However she does not see this flexibility happening just one way. She believes employees need to be flexible too. When her workload became more demanding and she needed to be at the office every day to meet client’s needs she did just that. So instead of having set days she was in the office she spread her part time hours over five days.
“That has helped me a lot in terms of being able to balance family and work,” says Wee. “Because I have that flexibility and I have that support, and flexibility worked both ways with me and the organisation.”
Within six years Wee reached her goal and is now a partner at EY. As a team leader she has embraced EY’s philosophy of focusing on the people.
“We have placed a lot of emphasis on people here,” she says. “We want our people to be happy and we feel that if people are happy at work they will be more willing to give and overall they will be more motivated.”
Staying motivated is important to sustaining a balance between family and careers. Wee is very honest about this and it is something she has seen many women do. When talking about the women who have influenced her she reflects on a CEO and a CFO she worked with early in her career. For them discussing family and juggling careers were something they openly talked about in the workplace.
“Women, when in trying to reach for the top, try to pretend the other half of their life doesn’t exist,” Wee says. “So I think that is important to acknowledge and to be able to have both parts of your world touch each other so that people understand where you are coming from, from all angles.”
Now that Wee is one of those women younger employees look up to, she has her own advice she imparts on them. Firstly she would encourage them not to make the same mistake she used to do and undersell themselves. Then, she advises they take charge of their career and speak out about the things they want to happen and not wait for someone else to.
Lastly, always have a positive outlook for what you do and how you conduct yourself. This is what Wee believes has been the biggest attribute to her success.
“I’m always positive about things,” she says. “I never see anything as too hard I try to tackle it first and look at the positive side, and the solutions.”